


Catching Butterflies (Like Memories)

by TT_Angst_Queen



Series: AttaBot [9]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Feels, HOW IS THAT NOT A TAG?!?, Head Injury, Hurt Jethro Gibbs, Hurt Team, Hurt/Comfort, IT NEEDS TO BE!, Jethro Gibbs Needs a Hug, M/M, Major Character Injury, Make It So Number One!, Memory Loss, Permanent Injury, Prosthesis, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-02 00:53:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13306959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TT_Angst_Queen/pseuds/TT_Angst_Queen
Summary: Gibbs' struggles after the explosion were greater than was shown, and his head was a lot more scrambled then first thought. But he doesn't have to be alone.





	Catching Butterflies (Like Memories)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jane_x80](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jane_x80/gifts), [ThePeachyMonkey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePeachyMonkey/gifts), [Vt_girl1701](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vt_girl1701/gifts), [cutsycat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/gifts).



“Leroy!”

 

“Yes, dad?” Gibbs sighed, rubbing his eyes and yawning. It was way too early to be up, even by his standards, but for some reason, his dad insisted on waking him up with a bright smile and a steaming cup of Coffee, along with his morning antibiotic rub for his…. Leg.

 

“Get your butt down here, I need help with a few things,” His dad shouted louder than even he could sometimes, and that was a feat not easily accomplished just ask him- just ask his- his team.

 

Gibbs felt a few frustrated tears build in his eyes at the memories that would quickly come and go in his brain.

 

He knew that he cared for his team, his team made of AI’s, and he knew they cared for him. He knew that they were like his own children, even if that was strictly impossible unless he created them himself, for which he knew he had no skill to do so, as far as he knew.

 

But the feeling of caring for his team, sometimes he couldn’t remember their names, how they met, their favorite drink or if they even liked him or not.

He would get glimpses of a nervous young Tech-Bot, and his light green Optics and a stutter that made him want to pat the boy fondly on the head, like a little puppy. He would remember Tim, whose creator named him after himself and then abandoned him once he realized the Tech-Bot had a glitch that made him feel disoriented on ships and wasn’t fixable. How Tony had taken the little Bot under his wing and helped him grow out of his nervous nature and into a strong, but still helplessly adorable ( in the way of a son or younger brother) young Bot.  

 

He would see bits of memories of a blond ‘Bot, standing at the top of the stairs to his house, and would remember feeling first fear, then relief when he saw her. He would remember Ellie Bishop, dear Ellie, who was like everyone's favorite little sister or is Tony and Gibbs’ case, Daughter. Her excitable personality and endearing smile with dimples and wide eyes. How she fit so perfectly into their little makeshift family it was like she was always there.

He remembered Abby, who was like a younger sister to him (despite common belief and thanks to plenty of upgrades, the Forensic-Bot was not too much younger than Gibbs by only a couple years, and therefore, way too young for him to have conceived her.) he would remember her smiles, her eccentric nature, and her tendency to be childish at times but with a big heart and a mind as sharp as a tack. He would remember her stubborn nature, and that sometimes it got her into trouble, but she would always be remorseful for her actions afterward.  

 

He would remember Ducky, and his neverending repertoire of stories and tales, the old Med-Bot/ME-Bot a lot older then anyone would really believe. He would remember that Ducky always gave him a shoulder to lean on when he would need to vent, and a cup of tea when he needed to calm down.

 

Sometimes he would get flashes of green Optics and a tingling sensation on his right hand, and it would confuse him before he would remember Tony, and his ‘special condition’, that actually kind of horrified him. Of all the things to fix a bot on the fritz, why hitting him on the head? Then he would remember the smile Tony would give after every headslap and the way the Bot would lean into his hand, enjoying the slap.  He would remember nights of passion and sweet love with this Bot, this Lover, and smile.

 

But most of the time, he struggled to remember the past sixteen years at all.

 

Memories would come and go, fleeting as a butterfly's path, and just as hard to grasp, and too delicate to try by force.

 

Gibbs steadfastly ignored the tears threatening to erupt as his mind once again blanked, the memories now faded and scattered, and wiped his face furiously, angry that ever since he came here, his emotions were on a rollercoaster worse than a pregnant woman.

 

“Coming Dad,” Gibbs called, happy that his voice only cracked a little. Only his would be able to tell if- and it was gone again.

 

Walking down the stairs to the shop, Gibbs carefully made sure his feet were not making the stomping sounds they wanted to, knowing that the pain in his right...leg, would not be worth the satisfaction it would bring.

 

“Get in here Leroy, your old man ain’t got no time to spare for lollygagging around.” Gibbs would have snapped back if he didn’t hear the teasing humor in the man’s voice.

 

“Yeah, well, I’m no spring chicken-” Gibbs halted when he came into the shop, eyes wide at the group that stared at him with tired, hesitant, and exhausted Optics.

 

“-either.” Gibbs finished, slightly in shock. The tallest one in the middle, with green Optics- _Tony_ , his mind helpfully (for once) supplied- waved weakly at him, and Gibbs almost cringed at the creaking sound of overworked metal joints.

 

“Hey, Boss.”

 

Gibbs Decided that this day just got a lot more tiring.

 

* * *

 

 

It was an awkward few hours before everyone settled in, and after Ducky had treated all the Bots so they could relax. Apparently, they had twice a day treatment that they had to follow strictly since they were on the verge of burnout.

 

Gibbs was appalled at how bad the Bots had gotten in his absence, and how hard they had worked themselves to keep up with the constant cases and keep up their closure rate. Gibbs was proud of his team for their work but at the same time wished that that pride wasn’t because they had worked so hard they almost made themselves shut down in doing so.

 

“So ya’ll made yourselves sick trying to work without me there, and Leon didn’t say anything?”

 

Gibbs remembered just enough about the director and his old friend that he felt that Leon not paying attention to the people under his command to the point where they were close to burnout was more than unusual for him.

 

“Uhm, he said that the SecNav had been keeping him in and out of meetings and appointments for months, and he didn’t have time to check on anyone let alone us, so,” the green-eyed man- Tony- _his lover-but was he still his lover after this long? Did Tony resent him for his human weakness making him so broken?_ Said, his voice rough like gravel.

 

“The Director sent us straight here, paid medical leave and everything, he seemed really worried, and said that he wished he had noticed it sooner,” The blond one- _Abby? Or Ellie? No- Ellie, Abby was the one with pigtails and goth...right?_ “I think seeing Tony as bad as he was, really shook him up.”

 

The skinny one- _wasn’t he pudgy before? His name was Tom. No, Thom- Tim? Yeah, definitely Tim...I think._ \- spoke up, his voice just as rough as the rest of them, their vocal syntaxes clearly overused and very much strained.

 

“To be fair, Tony is a lot worse off than the rest of us, he’s the one that’s been going against his programming. Tony didn’t want the upgrade so he had the capacity and endurance of a Leader-Bot. So his systems were taking a much larger beating then ours was.”

 

Tony scowled at the younger bot.

 

“Shut it McTattletale, Gibbs doesn’t need-”

 

“Don’t baby me,” Gibbs snapped, and the rest of them jumped, while his father crept quietly out of the room to let the team talk.

 

“But Gibbs, you’re still hurt-” Gibbs growled, and Abby flinched, her mouth snapping shut.

 

“And I will get better,” Gibbs snapped, looking at all of them.

 

“Jethro please-” Ducky started, and Gibbs glared at him, making him go silent.

 

“Look-” Gibbs started, softening his glare, “Yes, my brain is more scrambled then my morning breakfast,” Tony flinched, and Abby whimpered. “Yes, I am hurt,” Gibbs didn’t hesitate before pulling up his right pants leg, showing of the new robotic appendage, the edges where it had been grafted into his skin, bone, and muscle still red, raw and swollen.

 

“Yeah, I’m still struggling to hold onto the last fifteen years of memories and sometimes I get confused and I forget names, places, and that I’m no longer thirty-nine and just out of my first coma,” Ducky grimaced at the word “first Coma”, and yes, being in more than one coma in his life was definitely not something to sneeze at, hell one was bad enough, for most people.

 

“Sometimes I forget that I have a team that I care about, and-” Gibbs choked, and swallowed, his eyes going teary as he stared at Tony,  “and a-a lover that I miss with every bit of my soul, I have days where I don’t know what’s happening around me and I drift, and my dad has to practically spoon feed me and make sure I go to the bathroom,” Gibbs crossed his arms over his chest, and turned his head, avoiding their eyes, his cheeks flushing.

 

“And I hate that I’m making my elderly father take care of me when it’s supposed to be the other way around, and that isn’t fair to him, but I really don’t have a choice.

 

But I am not a baby,” Gibbs reiterated, his voice strained, looking back at them. “And while I am very touched that you all want to take care of me-” Gibbs looked down at his hands, then looked back up, his voice quiet, tired- drained.

 

“I need to be able to have independence, and I don’t want to be treated like some fragile human, even if you are all Bot’s with all that fancy tech, I am a Marine.”

 

Tony reached forward, and grasped Gibbs’ hand, looking at him with gentle eyes. Gibbs laced their fingers together and stoked the back of his hand with his thumb.

 

“But you don’t have to do it alone, Jethro,” Tony murmured, looking deep into Gibbs’ eyes.

 

“Not anymore.”

  


“Thank you...Tony,” Gibbs’ lips twitched into a smile.

 

“Neither do you.”


End file.
